She'll Never Be My Mom || (n.j.)

Chapter 12

"Why are you still hanging onto that?! You and I are married, not you and her!" Olivia cried out to Dad downstairs. They didn't think I could hear their argument, but I heard every word, even with my door shut.

"I can't just get rid of it! She may be gone, but I still have a piece of her Olivia! May I remind you that we were still married when she passed? It's not like I signed divorce papers with a dead woman! I can keep it if I want to." He replied, anger and harshness in his tone. I hated hearing my Dad yell. He always seemed so calm, cool, and collected all the time.

"Nick, I'm your wife, not her. And all I'm saying is that I don't feel comfortable with you keeping your rings." Olivia tried to make things calm. I didn't hear Dad say anything for a bit, so I figured he must've cooled down. All I heard was murmuring, not able to make out what was being said.

"Fine. You clearly don't care about our marriage then!" She screamed at him. I winced at that, biting down on my bottom lip nervously.

"You're blowing this way out of proportion!" Dad's shouts seemed to rattle the whole house. They obviously didn't seem to care if I could hear it or not.

"Don't walk away from me." I heard him say to her. My feet instantly made me get up and walk to the top of the stairs, just so they couldn't see me, but just so I could see what was going on. I really didn't want to go down and get between it, but I was curious. I saw that Dad had forcefully grabbed Olivia's arm and they stared at each other intensely before she slapped him across the face, screaming for him to let go of her. He did, and the sound of the slap didn't sound good.

"Have a great f*%$&ing night." He yelled after her as she strutted out of the front door, not bothering to close it. I ran upstairs once Dad slammed it, making sure my door was shut and it looked like I had been up here the whole time.

"F*ck." He muttered as he came up the stairs. I can't remember the last time I had heard my Dad swear. It sounded weird to my ears. I just tried to make it seem like everything was fine, and he came in the room. I peered up at him and his jaw was clenched, but he was trying his best to not look too upset.

"So, I've got to fly out to London tomorrow for a few days, concerts and appearances, the usual. Olivia is going to be staying here with you." He told me in a solid tone, not exactly looking me in the eyes. I knew better then to ask about the argument, so I pushed it aside.

"She lives here Daddy." I joked, trying to lighten the mood. He smiled a bit at that and pressed his lips to my forehead before saying goodnight to me.

"I probably won't see you tomorrow before I have to leave. It'll be pretty early in the morning. So I love you with all of my heart Brooklyn Ann Jonas, and you know that I always have you in mind honey. I love you so much, and have fun with Liv, okay?" He leaned down and kissed me again, and I threw my arms around his neck, putting my face in his shoulder.

"I love you Dad. So much. Be safe, and don't get pulled into the crowd and hurt yourself. I cannot have that. What will the media think? That I let my father just go off and be reckless? Not gonna happen dude." We both laughed. I always told him this exact thing when he was leaving for a few days for a concert or something else he needed to be away for. I never really asked what it was whenever he said he was leaving.

"I promise you that your father will not be reckless. What would your mother think of me then?" He smiled at me, hugging me once more before going into his room. He had shut my door behind him, and I shut off the lamp by my bed, looking to the ceiling in the dark. I fell asleep soon enough, sweet dreams of my Mom filling my head that night.

~
"Sweetheart, you're awake. How'd you sleep?" It's been a couple of days since Dad left, and him and I have talked. He always tells me when he's on his way to do a show, and when he's finished. Olivia and I have Facetimed him every night as well.

"Pretty good." The truth was, I didn't. I missed my Dad so much already. It was never this bad. It felt weird because there was another woman here with me instead of my Aunt Samantha. Olivia didn't tell me anything about their fight, and nothing was mentioned about it whatsoever.

"That's good. So I thought that you and I could go shopping today. Your Dad actually was the one who suggested it."

"Yeah, I'll just go upstairs and change." I gave her a half-hearted smile. I had warmed up to Dad's new wife, but not exactly on the kind of level where I'd tell her about boys at school, or when I had some girl issues. I wasn't totally ready for that yet. I went into my room and shut the door, clicking on Dad's contact on my phone right away. After a few rings, he answered.

"Hey sweetie." His tone sounded happy, and it sounded like he was somewhere with a lot of people.

"Dad, I have a problem."

"Alright.....if it's that you need to get more stuff, you can just ask-"

"It's not that Dad." I rolled my eyes, at how embarrassed he still was to talk about it. He gave out a sigh of relief and I continued.

"I need you to come home."